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Visual notetaking and focusing on big ideas

Visual notetaking can make connections to content that traditional teaching can’t. It also lets us focus on the big-picture lessons we want students to learn. (Art by Matt Miller) (Wow, I never thought I would write that in a caption!)

Where do blogs and online media outlets go to present information?

Infographics.

They’re visually stimulating. They’re accessible to almost anyone. And they don’t overkill with too much information.

I’ve had a couple encounters with these ideas in the last couple weeks that have me thinking about how I could teach better and differently.

Right away, I realized something: It made me look like a MUCH better artist than I really am. (I’m not much of an artist at all. Think modified, augmented stick figures.)

The first drawing I created was for my school’s graduation: a basic graduation cap with tassel and confetti including time and date of the graduation ceremony. I shared it on Facebook with friends and family, and it got more attention than I expected.

A speaker at graduation quoted Henry David Thoreau and it inspired me to draw another one (the top image in this post). My wife told me I should send it to Hallmark because it should be on a greeting card.

(No one ever says that about art I create. Ever.)

Visual notes from a keynote speech by Dave Burgess (Art by Matt Miller)

Since then, I’ve been to a few educational technology conferences since then. Instead of taking copious notes during keynote speeches in Evernote (like I usually do), I’ve picked a couple main takeaway messages and made visual representations of them.

Again, they’re not great art. And again, they’re mostly like modified stick figures.

1. What if we did more of this in class? These types of notes could be huge for visual learners, and fellow classmates’ representations of the day’s lesson could be huge for a learner who is struggling with a particular topic.

2. What if we put more emphasis on the big take-away lessons? So often, we have our list of content to cover in a unit or a school year. At times, we lay the lessons out wide and shallow instead of digging deep to emphasize the most important ideas. Sometimes, those key take-away lessons can get lost in a sea of lesser facts.

Right now, I’m really liking this idea — lots of emphasis on a few key lessons instead of cursory attention to lots of smaller things.

And I love that this app has brought out a little bit of artistic talent that I never thought I had. (Thanks, Amy, for your help with that!)

What do you think of that idea — more emphasis on the big ideas? Have you ever tried visual notes like this with students (or something like it)? I’d love to hear about it. Share with us in a comment below!

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If your Chromebooks have touch screens, I’ve come across a few drawing apps in a search: Open Office Draw, Microsoft Paint for Chromebook, Sumo Paint and Touch Drawing App. I haven’t tried these yet, but that could be a good place to start.

If your Chromebooks don’t have touch screens, I’d think you could potentially do this (maybe with a mouse? It would be hard drawing with the touchpad.) … Maybe they could use something like Lucidchart or Gliffy for text/lines/icons/etc., which wouldn’t be in their own handwriting/drawing, but it could be an alternative.

ABOUT MATT

Matt Miller

Ditch That Textbook is written by Matt Miller, a high school Spanish teacher in West Central Indiana. After trying to do the traditional "teach by the textbook" for a few years, he launched into a textbook-less path where learning activities were often custom-produced for his students as well as infused with technology. He likes the results a lot, and his students do, too. More about Matt »

SPEAKING Matt speaks at schools, conferences and events about intentional technology use in the classroom. More details »

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